A method for steam
cracking is proposed, the method comprising operating a steam
cracking furnace (100) with a radiant section (110) and a
convection section (120), the radiant section (110) comprising a plurality of reaction tubes (111) and a plurality of burners (112) and the
convection section (120) comprising a plurality of heat
recovery units (121, 122). The proposed method includes operating the steam
cracking furnace (100) using a group of gases to provide heat to the reaction tubes (111) and / or the heat
recovery units (121, 122), the group of gases consisting of one or more combustible gases and a subgroup of further gases, the subgroup of further gases consisting of
oxygen and one or more incombustible gases including
nitrogen in a
nitrogen content. In the proposed method, the
oxygen is provided in the subgroup of further gases in a proportion lower than a proportion of
oxygen in
atmospheric air. The subgroup of further gases, or one or more gas components used in forming the subgroup of further gases, is subjected to a preheating step to a temperature above 500 °C upstream of the burners (111), and the preheating step is performed using
electric energy in an energy amount which is at least 20% of an energy amount provided by the lower heating value of the one or more combustible gases (111). A corresponding apparatus (1000) is also proposed herein.